Edit a photo two ways: virtual copies
Keep a photo both ways — in colour and in black and white, say — with a virtual copy: a second edit of the same photo that needs no second file.
Making one
- Create virtual copy on the photo menu makes one for each selected photo. The copies appear in the grid as photos of their own, in no album and with no tags.
- Duplicate for editing… on an album's menu in the sidebar makes a new album holding a virtual copy of every photo in it, so the new album can be edited as a whole while the library's photos stay as they are.
Editing one
Open a virtual copy in the editor like any photo. It is always drawn from its original file with its own edit on top; it can never be baked into the file, so Save skips it. Save as copy turns it into a real file of its own, which other programs can then see.
Removing one
Delete virtual copy on the photo menu, offered when every targeted photo is a virtual copy, removes the copies and leaves the original photo alone.
Reveal in Explorer and Find similar are greyed out for a virtual copy, since it has no file of its own.